Need help with cycle. New Reefer here

[Reefer1485]

Hello Everyone,

I finally setup and saltwater tank. I have a Nuvo 20 with full 20 pound bag of special grade live sand and dry rock. I am using Doctor Tims two part cycle kit. I have my RODI system from BRS. Here is my questions:

I have the red sea pro care testing kit. When I read the numbers on the cards does the number mean PPM? just checking


Here is my readings on day 2 after adding the bacteria and ammonia from day 1:
PH= 8.02
Salinity=1.026
Ammonia= 2 per the card color
Nitrates= 2 per the card color
Note: forgot to check Nitrites

Day 3:
Added ammonia per the instruction card

Day 4 readings:

PH= 8.00 per card and 7.98 per digital reading
Salinity=1.026
Ammonia= >2 per the card color. The color is of the chart. its look more to be like a green blue color. Not sure how high it is now.
Nitrates= 2 per the card color
Nitrites= 0.05 per the card color
Alkalinity= 6.5 dKH. Will start testing this as well and it looks to be low I believe?

I have no fish in the tank and my temp in the tank is 76.5. heater set to 78. based on the numbers I have listed so far, does everything look fine? I am not going to add any more ammonia for the next two days as it states to on the instructions. I just hope I don't need to start back over due to the ammonia being high(er) what ever that value is based on the color that was in the bottle.

Thank you

Joe

 

[schuby]

When I cycled my tank with Dr Tim's One and Only, I added 2ppm of Ammonia (per the online instructions) and THEN added the One and Only. It took about a week for the Ammonia to go to zero and Nitrites to go to zero. There is no use measuring Nitrate until Nitrite is about zero (false readings).

Can you take a pic of instruction card that says to add Ammonia on more than one day? I'd like to see it.

To me, you should only add more Ammonia after the initial ammonia reads zero. Otherwise, you can overwhelm the new bacteria and cause the cycle to take a very long time (maybe 2-4 weeks).

 

[Reefer1485]

When I cycled my tank with Dr Tim's One and Only, I added 2ppm of Ammonia (per the online instructions) and THEN added the One and Only. It took about a week for the Ammonia to go to zero and Nitrites to go to zero. There is no use measuring Nitrate until Nitrite is about zero (false readings).

Can you take a pic of instruction card that says to add Ammonia on more than one day? I'd like to see it.

To me, you should only add more Ammonia after the initial ammonia reads zero. Otherwise, you can overwhelm the new bacteria and cause the cycle to take a very long time (maybe 2-4 weeks).

Thank you so much for getting back with me. Here is a picture of the color in the glass. I also attached the instructions and a picture of my tank

 

[Reefer1485]

Next question is should I do a 20% water change to try and bring down the ammonia or I do have another bottle of bacteria not the same brand but should I just add that? To give a little more detail on the tank, I am currently running a filter sock on one side which was added two days after, I have two sections of filter pads/sponge. The skimmer is off and I don’t have any other filter media added until the cycle is completed

 

[schuby]

Quick question: did you buy the correct size of One and Only for your size tank? This affects the amount of bacteria you are starting with. An over-sized bottle is better than an under-sized bottle.

The instructions seem off to me. They say to add 4 drops of ammonium chloride (ammonia in bottle) per gallon of seawater to get 2ppm of ammonia in your tank. (The sand and rock take some of the volume so your water volume is not 100% volume of tank)

Moving on... If the Ammonia still reads 2ppm after 2 days, then the cycle is still starting. If you add the same amount of ammonia again, then you will have 4ppm of ammonia in your tank. This can stall the cycle or make it take much longer.

I recommend not adding more ammonia until you read zero. You can add ammonia three times, just only add more when it reaches zero. When your tank has processed a total of 6ppm of ammonia, it is definitely cycled.

Before adding fish, I prefer to wait until Nitrite goes to zero (or nearly zero). This shows that the second type of bacteria ( slower growing that converts nitrite to nitrate) has multiplied and can support a good bioload from fish. The first type of bacteria converts ammonia to nitrite and multiplies/grows much faster.

 

[schuby]

I'd go for a water change over more bacteria. The higher concentration of ammonia will eventually go down, but it will just take longer. If your ammonia gets above 5ppm, then the cycle could stall. Water changes would be the only option at that time.

Even if the color of your test of off the chart, you can compare the photo you posted to a new test (with another flash pic). If the color is lighter (guessing that means less) then the cycle is progressing.

 

[schuby]

Reefing is a constant exercise of patience. This is your first workout!

 

[Reefer1485]

Quick question: did you buy the correct size of One and Only for your size tank? This affects the amount of bacteria you are starting with. An over-sized bottle is better than an under-sized bottle.

The instructions seem off to me. They say to add 4 drops of ammonium chloride (ammonia in bottle) per gallon of seawater to get 2ppm of ammonia in your tank. (The sand and rock take some of the volume so your water volume is not 100% volume of tank)

Moving on... If the Ammonia still reads 2ppm after 2 days, then the cycle is still starting. If you add the same amount of ammonia again, then you will have 4ppm of ammonia in your tank. This can stall the cycle or make it take much longer.

I recommend not adding more ammonia until you read zero. You can add ammonia three times, just only add more when it reaches zero. When your tank has processed a total of 6ppm of ammonia, it is definitely cycled.

Before adding fish, I prefer to wait until Nitrite goes to zero (or nearly zero). This shows that the second type of bacteria ( slower growing that converts nitrite to nitrate) has multiplied and can support a good bioload from fish. The first type of bacteria converts ammonia to nitrite and multiplies/grows much faster.

I purchased the 30 gallon size kit which I added the whole bottle of Bacteria. My tank took right at 13.5 gallons of water after adding sand,rock, and equipment in the back. I took 4 x 13.5 and added that amount of ammonia the first day which had me at 2ppm. But then I did the same thing the next time it told me to based on the instructions. I will make up some more water and do a small change

 

[Reefer1485]

Reefing is a constant exercise of patience. This is your first workout!

Haha well we had a fresh water tank for a long time and it was easy as pie to keep. But for some reason I am nervous on this one. Maybe bc it more expensive haha

 

[Gobi-Wan]

Relax. Bacteria will grow in your aquarium no matter what you do. I know you keep hearing be patient be patient but you can’t mess up a cycle. Adding bacteria will help speed the process but those little bacteria have been doing this since life has existed in the ocean and they’re very very good at it. You won’t have to start over if you don’t feed them. They can live without a food source almost indefinitely if they just stay hydrated. Don’t worry too much about it and just let it do it’s thing.
Welcome to R2R!
Here is some reading material:

How to unstick any seemingly stuck cycle

Updated Cycling Science in Action This is a testless reef tank cycling thread, the only one from any board. If you ever had trouble with reef tank cycling in the past, you won't any longer after working some jobs with us. chances are you are using/about to use a method of reef tank cycling...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Uncle99]

Ammonia to get to zero
Nitrite to get to zero
Nitrate will be on the rise, now do the 50% ish water change.

 

[Reefer1485]

Relax. Bacteria will grow in your aquarium no matter what you do. I know you keep hearing be patient be patient but you can’t mess up a cycle. Adding bacteria will help speed the process but those little bacteria have been doing this since life has existed in the ocean and they’re very very good at it. You won’t have to start over if you don’t feed them. They can live without a food source almost indefinitely if they just stay hydrated. Don’t worry too much about it and just let it do it’s thing.
Welcome to R2R!
Here is some reading material:

How to unstick any seemingly stuck cycle

Updated Cycling Science in Action This is a testless reef tank cycling thread, the only one from any board. If you ever had trouble with reef tank cycling in the past, you won't any longer after working some jobs with us. chances are you are using/about to use a method of reef tank cycling...

www.reef2reef.com

Good read! Thank you for posting. I just read over the first two pages.

 

[Reefer1485]

Ammonia to get to zero
Nitrite to get to zero
Nitrate will be on the rise, now do the 50% ish water change.

Awesome. Thanks

 

[schuby]

I just noticed the heater in your pic. I have that same type of heater in my QT tank. I'm not sure it is supposed to be half-in and half-out of the water. I keep mine fully submerged. You may want to confirm that it's OK to be partially submerged. It may keep your water warm, but it might be unnecessarily inefficient and may shorten its lifespan.

 

[Reefer1485]

I just noticed the heater in your pic. I have that same type of heater in my QT tank. I'm not sure it is supposed to be half-in and half-out of the water. I keep mine fully submerged. You may want to confirm that it's OK to be partially submerged. It may keep your water warm, but it might be unnecessarily inefficient and may shorten its lifespan.

when I placed it in the back. Only the part that doesn’t get worm is out of the water. The rest is in. But yes I will reread the instructions to make sure I do it correctly

 

[Reefer1485]

Just

I just noticed the heater in your pic. I have that same type of heater in my QT tank. I'm not sure it is supposed to be half-in and half-out of the water. I keep mine fully submerged. You may want to confirm that it's OK to be partially submerged. It may keep your water warm, but it might be unnecessarily inefficient and may shorten its lifespan.

Just read and fixed the heater. Thanks for catching that.

 

[Reefer1485]

After doing some more reading, I decided to take a gallon of water out of the tank and replace with fresh RO/DI water to bring my salinity down from 1.026 to 1.024. I purchased the ammonia hang on the glass reader from Seachem. Once I see the color change on it, I will conduct my full test to track the cycle. Also I am gonna keep the skimmer off until all is good to go.

 

[Reefer1485]

So today is day 7 of cycling and wow seems like over night all the reactions started to take place. Here is my readings as of today:
PH: 8.11

Salinity: 1.025 ( has jumped 1 point. Need to top off water just a tab. Should bring it back down to 1.024)

Ammonia:between 0.1 and 0.2 (will lean towards the 0.2 just to be safe)

Nitrite: 1 per the Red Sea card color

Nitrate: betweeen 20 and 50 ppm so I thinking 30ppm

here are some picture. Also I am using three different ammonia readers bc at first I thought something was wrong.

what do you all think? I will dose a tab bit more ammonia to bring it back up to 2 and then watch it to see how fast it brings it down.

 

[schuby]

Seachem badge should be read when lit from behind. I waited for ammonia to read zero/yellow before adding more ammonia when I cycled my tank. Nitrate test is inaccurate unless nitrite is zero or very close to zero.

Your cycle is definitely progressing!

 

[TheXpander]

I’m also in the process of cycling using Dr Tim’s 2 part. I refer to this video for guidance;
Good luck!!